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If I only had one more opportunity to communicate to our readers (and I hope this is not my last article), what would I want to say? There is only one foundational truth that makes life worth living and that is GOD LOVES YOU. Personally, I struggle with such a truth. I can explain it in my head; I know lots of Scriptures to put with it and I've heard dozens of sermons on it yet this truth often loses its way on the path from my head to my heart. I think of my failures and all...
Most everyone who lives within winter's grasp will agree. This has been a long, cold winter. For those who live where snow lies on the ground for more than four months, it's been a lonely winter. In the upper Midwest and north of the 48th parallel, neighbors aren't seen for weeks at a time. Few want to venture out into the -30 or lower temperatures unless it is absolutely necessary. Winter for many often means feeling alone and isolated. Do you feel abandoned? Perhaps if not now, there may have been times in your life when...
As a child, no one says, "I want to grow up to be a murderer." I certainly didn't. Yet here I am, 36 years old, labeled by society as a murderer because I took a life. I was born to Christian parents who have ministered among Native Americans for 30 years. I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior at age five and grew up in church. I was actively involved in my church youth group. In college however, I began to search outside the church for friends and began to frequent bars, loo...
By touch, the soda can felt a bit warm for her liking. So she did what any normal person would do, she placed it in the staff refrigerator. About an hour later my boss asked me for a few rags and cleaner. A strange request, because I'm the one who does the cleaning at work. "What happened? I mean, do you need me to clean something for you? Whatever it is, I'll do it." I felt strongly about doing it. How could I allow my boss to get her hands dirty? "No, I'll do it," she...
What is the bravest thing you’ve ever done? A man might answer that question by saying he fought in a war. A woman might say letting her only child leave home took the most courage. I’ve survived fires, floods, blizzards, accidents, earthquakes and illness but what has taken the most courage wasn’t disasters. What has taken the most courage has been small things that went unnoticed by others. It takes courage to do things we don’t want to do but know they are the right t...
It's been a long winter here in Canada. Like thousands of others, I needed to take a little break away from the sting of winter. In January, I went on a cruise for a week to the Bahamas. Being on a big ship with a few thousand other people in the middle of the ocean provides for ample opportunity to sit on your beach chair and people watch. The one action that was most obvious to me from morning until sunset was the constant hunger for the sun. As the ship changed direction, s...
Gezandami Nidobak (Dear Friends), It is the time of the cracking trees, I can hear them right now. There will be major cleanup this year. As you all know, the big push is on food sustainability and nutrition for ourselves and our children. Many nations have started active programs which we will see even more of this year. My most recent interest has been in the “food not lawns” idea. It is so sensible, organic and doable, you can save money as well as eat healthier for a few...
The cinematic offerings that highlight Native American or Indigenous issues or feature promising Native American or Indigenous actors have been pretty thin lately, but I thought I'd take this issue of Indian Life to let you know about two films I've seen recently that fall into those categories. The Activist is a film set on (or near) the Lakota Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation during the Wounded Knee occupation in 1973. Cyril Moran, a Frenchman, directs it and the film has...
TAMPA, FL-Justin Motlow is the first member of the Seminole Tribe to play football for Florida State University. The tribe has lent its name and history for the school's mascot. But the 18-year-old Motlow is the first Seminole to make the squad and he's excited about it. "I would have for sure thought somebody would have been before me," Motlow, who will be attending FSU in the fall, told The Tampa Bay Times. "It's really crazy." Motlow spent most of his early years on the...
SOCHI, RUSSIA-Were you one of those hardy individuals who got up to watch the Gold Medal game between Canada and Sweden? Even if you weren't, there is little doubt that men's and women's hockey dominated the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Two First Nations players dominated the men's hockey tournament. Goaltender Carey Price represented Canada and T.J. Oshie played for the United States. Both were Olympic heroes. Going by T.J., Timothy Lief Oshie rose to stardom in an instant...
The daughter of sharecroppers Johnson and Gaynell Jacobs, Judy Jacobs (Lumbee Tribe) was born in Lumberton, North Carolina, and is the youngest of twelve children. Her family, devout Christians, struggled financially. Judy began singing in church at age six, and at eight, underwent a spiritual conversion experience. Her parents recognized her talents and encouraged her toward a music career. She and her sisters formed the gospel singing group, The Jacobs Sisters. She attended...
OTTAWA, ON-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently presented his government's plan to reform First Nations education. This plan was redone after it ran into opposition from First Nations who tried to undo the reform process. Now the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador is requesting the courts take a look at the government's plan for Aboriginal education. The group is asking the Federal Court to stop the legislation from going ahead without its approval....
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WY-Yellowstone plans to slaughter between 600 and 800 bison before spring, according to park spokesman Al Nash. "We're going to seek opportunities to capture any animals that move outside the park's boundaries," he said. Yellowstone has set a "population target," of 3,000 to 3,500 animals. This is the first time Yellowstone has turned bison over to the tribes under the slaughter agreements. According to James Holt, a Nez Perce Tribal Member and a...
"The information that is to be gathered...respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost," Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868–1952) wrote in the 1907 introduction to his first volume of The North American Indian. He began taking photographs as a teen and started traveling the West in 1898. Curtis devoted 30 years to photographing and documenting more than 80 tribes west of the Mississippi; when all was s...
PRINCE RUPERT, BC-As a result of repeatedly hearing people's stories of abuse and recognizing the deep negative impact abuse has had on their lives, communities and culture, a group of First Nations leaders were convinced they had to do something. Remaining silent was no longer an option. Further, they believed that as First Nations people they needed to be the ones to rise up and take responsibility to help their own people. In 1992, they decided to organize a conference to...
WINNIPEG, MB-Perhaps the most successful and longest-running Native American singer is none other than Buffy Sainte-Marie. At 73, Buffy is still "on the road" making music and raising issues that affect First Nations. On a western Canadian tour, Sainte-Marie played a concert recently in Winnipeg at the West End Cultural Centre backed by her all Manitoban and Aboriginal band-Leroy Constant, on bass, Jesse Green, guitar, and Mike Bruyere on drums. "I'm actually working on a new...
CLEARWATER, FL (ANS)—The weekend of April 6-7 2014 has been designated as the 23rd Annual “Just Pray NO!” to drugs Worldwide Weekend of Prayer and Fasting. According to a news release received by the ASSIST News Service, since early 1991 “Just Pray NO!” has united millions of Christians from 150 nations and territories around the world in intercessory prayer on behalf of the addicted and their families. Organizers are asking for a formal commitment from believers worldwide for the upcoming weekend. The news release said even...
PHILADELPHIA, PA-An exhibition entitled Native American Voices: The People-Here and Now, opened at the Penn Museum on March 1, 2014. It challenges visitors to leave preconceptions about Native Americans behind-and discover a living tapestry of nations with distinct stories, identities, and contemporary leaders. The richly interactive new exhibition features a wide range of contemporary Native American voices-including artists, activists, journalists, scholars, and community...
ENID, Oklahoma-A Chickasaw athlete known for feats of brilliance on softball fields throughout Oklahoma and the nation was inducted into the Oklahoma Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame on January 25. The honor bestowed upon Vernon Straughn came 58 years after his death from injuries sustained in a 1955 automobile accident. He was 43 when he died. Straughn's inclusion in the hall of fame is a "dream come true" for his family, according to Straughn's 72-year-old son,...
WINNIPEG, MB-After several weeks of hearings into the death of Brian Sinclair, his family is putting pressure on the government to hold an inquiry. In order to make their point even stronger, they withdrew from the inquest hearings into his death. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, Robert Sinclair, Brian's cousin, said "his family no longer has confidence the inquest will get all the answers they were hoping to get, so they will boycott the rest until it gets to final...
WINNIPEG, MB-At a conference on urban-reserve development, Manitoba chiefs began to take steps in a plan to develop urban reserves in and around Winnipeg. The Long Plain First Nation Urban Reserve Conference set the stage for a promising future for First Nations in southern Manitoba. By the end of the conference, it was clear the next steps would decide the success of the venture. Long Plain Chief Dennis Meeches and Teddy Nelson of the Southern Chiefs Organization have a plan...
Water in nature is a beautiful thing. It travels in a continuous cycle. It is lifted from the oceans and lakes by the sun's energy; it is condensed into clouds. Water's face is constantly changing expression. It's the ocean, creeks, rivers, lakes, rain, and snow. It is endlessly fascinating. Beautiful clouds towered up through the haze of the sultry afternoon as I watched the storm approaching from the other side of the lake in Maine. I remember as a young child being fascinat...
IMPRESSED I am a Cherokee. My tribe is the North Eastern Arkansas and East Missouri Tribe. I have been incarcerated for four years now. A friend gave me a copy of Indian Life newspaper. I was really impressed with your paper. I have been a saved man for about five years. That’s why I really like the Indian Life paper. It is very good to read about other tribes and hear about what’s going on in the Free World. I don’t get much mail. I could use a pen pal if you happen to know anyone who might write a lonely Christian man. I am...
Commissioned by the Indian Métis Christian Fellowship, Regina, Saskatchewan© 2008 I.M.C.F. Used with permission....
OTTAWA, ON-Another vigil was held on March 5 on Parliament Hill for missing and murdered women. This time for a young Inuit woman. There were hopes that this would prompt the Canadian government to conduct a public inquiry into the missing and murdered women in Canada. This vigil was made all the more urgent by the loss of Loretta Saunders, a young Inuit woman found slain on the side of a New Brunswick highway the weekend before. But it was not to be. On Friday, March 7, the...
